Alright, chapter 5 is up! Thank you to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter: shine lots, kingdomheartslover13, TheFriendlyStake, I'm a Nerd and Proud, kittygirl998939, RawR, and Whitewolfstar! This is my early Valentine's gift to all of you fine readers. I was considering on holding off until Friday but decided there'd be more love in it if I didn't keep you waiting. ;)

Chapter 5

It was safe to say that Tony didn't get any sleep that night but this time when they went to bed he was content to simply lie next to Steve as the Wolf drifted off. Even Steve didn't sleep well and tossed and turned all night. Maybe that was what kept Tony entertained, or maybe it was because he was able to notice new details about Steve that he hadn't taken the time to see before. The small scatter of freckles on the bridge of his nose from all the time he had been spending outside or the slope of his shoulder as he rolled over onto his side.

The hours slowly ticked away. To keep from feeling like a complete creeper, Tony let his eyes rest for most of it, his brain whirring away behind his eyelids. Diagrams, schematics, programming code rushed through his mind and he hoped he remembered half of it in the morning.

In his semi-conscious state he dreamed of Steve.

He dreamed of Peter and Bruce. Of Loki and Thor, Pepper and Natasha, Clint and Coulson.

He dreamed of explosions and fire. Of hard, cold floors. Of the taste of blood.

Tony's eyes snapped open and he sucked in a breath of air. A soft, pale light was starting to slip in through a crack in his blackout curtains. Going back through his memories from the night before he swore and slammed his head back against his pillows. The nightmares were standard but the only innovation he was able to conjure back into his brain was a short line of code that would help him reprogram a bug he had been trying to fix in a new networking system he was building.

But the rest would come back to him eventually. He had thought it up once, he would do it again.

But not right now. At some point during the night Steve had curled himself around Tony, his ridiculously broad chest pressed up against Tony's side and an arm flung over Tony's waist. It was so…domestic that Tony couldn't help but mess it up.

Reaching forward, Tony ran his fingers down his mate's jawline before gripping his chin and pressing his lips to the tip of Steve's nose. Tony smiled as Steve's nose wrinkled up at the touch but he didn't wake up. Pressing another kiss against his mate's cheek, Tony rolled on top of him and slotted his legs in between Steve's, a mess of blankets keeping him from the skin to skin contact he really wanted.

Steve grunted at the added weight and cracked an eye open. "Good morning."

Tony grinned down at him. "I hope so."

Steve smiled back and tilted his head back to accept another kiss, this time on the lips. Steve's hand crept down Tony's back to rest on his hip underneath the sheets. "…How are you feeling?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

"Right now I'm feeling kind of horny."

Steve blinked a few times, as if he could barely comprehend what Tony had said after just waking up. But then a small, coy smile lit up his face and he tilted his head back again to brush his nose against Tony's cheekbone. "I can tell. You weren't very subtle about it."

Tony couldn't help but nuzzle Steve back. His instincts were coming to the forefront and all he wanted to do was rub himself all over his mate. "Who said I was trying to be subtle?"

Steve smiled again and captured Tony's lips in another kiss, deeper this time. Tony smirked as he felt Steve's tongue brush up against his then grunted happily as Steve's hand tightened up his hip and began to pull his waist down. Feeling Steve begin to roll his hips up to meet him, Tony huffed out a breath and pressed his forehead against Steve's shoulder. "Are we really going to dry hump each other like teenagers?"

"Is it working?" Steve sounded far too smug, but there wasn't any reason for him not to be. He could feel that it was working.

Tony grunted and tilted his head up to bury his nose against Steve's neck. God, he smelled good. "Not if you don't speed things up a bit."

Steve's smile twisted up at the corner and that was Tony's only warning before the Wolf flipped them both over. There were still some blankets in between them but that didn't stop Steve from leaning over him and rutting their hips together. The breath had rushed out of Tony's lungs when Steve had jumped on him and he hadn't been able to get it back since. Hissing, he reached down and raked his fingers down Steve's back, leaving pink lines down his pale skin. It was half about having something to cling on to, half to stake his dominance over his mate as he panted above him. He could hear and feel Steve scenting him just as Tony had been doing to him earlier and a shot of endorphins ran straight down his spine as he heard a strangled growl roll up Steve's throat.

It took a lot less time than it should before Tony felt his climax rushing up on him and his nails dug hard into Steve's shoulders as he came. Steve let out choked whimper as the scent of Tony's release washed over him and came a heartbeat later. Tony felt a warm, damp patch beginning to seep in between them but was far more aware of Steve's comforting weight on top of him and the smell of the fine layer of sweat that had started to build up on his skin.

After a long moment of just breathing, Steve tilted his head and nipped at Tony's ear. "So…Good morning again."

"Yeah." Tony chuckled and licked Steve's chin, just to catch a bit of sweat that was about to roll off. "Remind me why we don't do that every morning?"

Steve raised a brow as he rested his weight on his elbows on either side of Tony's body. "…Because you're usually not here when I wake up?"

"That's true." He couldn't argue.

Steve made a small noise in the back of his throat—almost a laugh. "Maybe this will make you think twice tomorrow morning. I like waking up with you in my arms."

"Wow, Steve. You know I can't take you seriously when you're that sappy."

Steve definitely did laugh this time. "I know. And I forgive you." Tony opened his mouth to protest but Steve successfully silenced him by licking his way into Tony's mouth. When had managed to steal what breath Tony had managed to regain, Steve pulled away just enough to speak. "I guess we should head downstairs…See who else is awake."

"Mn, in a minute…" Steve shook his head but let Tony pull his head in to share another series of long, slow kisses that were almost enough to get Tony going again. But he was definitely not in his twenties anymore and his recovery period was a little longer than five minutes most days. After a bit though, that wet spot between them began to grow more noticeable and more uncomfortable. Eventually the gross sensation started to outweigh the lingering hum in his blood from his climax and Tony was ready to clean up. "Okay." He snuck one more kiss in before pushing Steve up and away. "Okay, let's get up."

Steve grinned but let Tony manhandle him off of him. He lifted his head and scented the air as Tony clamored to the edge of the bed. "I think someone's cooking. Do you want to go down and see what's for breakfast?"

"I want a shower first. You should join me."

Steve blinked, his eyes trained on Tony as he climbed off of the bed and stretched. "I don't know…"

Glancing back, Tony grinned as he caught the Wolf's stare. "Relax. I'm not asking for sex, although we can do that too if you want. But there's cum on your stomach and your back is bleeding. You need to clean up or Peter will ask questions no one wants to answer yet. Or worse, someone will answer."

Steve tilted his head then twisted around to try and get a glimpse at his back were Tony had dug his nails in a bit too deep. The Wolf probably hadn't even felt anything. "Oh! I guess I should clean up a bit…" A small blush dusted his cheeks which was pretty adorable considering what they had just been up to. "But no funny business."

"We'll see."

They didn't manage to keep their hands to themselves but they stopped at light touches and managed to make it downstairs within the hour despite Tony's attempts to sabotage the plan. When they did get down to the first floor, Tony was disappointed that he hadn't tried a little harder. He definitely needed more time to wake up before being bombarded with a loud 'good morning!' by a very enthusiastic Lion.

Thor was standing in front of the stove surrounded by a small war zone of spilled flour and cracked eggs. There was a blinding smile on his face as he spun around to face Tony and Steve as they stepped inside. "I have made breakfast!"

Steve winced at the mess but returned Thor's greeting with a nod. "Clearly. It smells good." It didn't look so good but it did smell edible. Tony didn't want to be a stereotyping asshole but a voice whispered in the back of his head that this was what happened when you had three alphas, two betas, three neutrals, and no omegas in a house.

Peter was already sitting at the table along with Bruce and Clint. Tony wandered over to sit with them but Thor followed him over. Bruce tried to hide his grin as the Lion rested his weight on the back of Tony's chair so suddenly that he almost toppled over. "Tony! I have heard that you had a trying day yesterday. I am immensely pleased to see that you appear well enough this morning!"

"Yeah, me too, big guy."

A quick glance around the table showed Tony that even though Thor had said so the one who looked the happiest to see him was Peter. And it sort of melted Tony's heart to see that. Steve caught the exchange and squeezed Tony's shoulders as he walked up and claimed his seat at the head of the table. "Well, thank you for making breakfast, Thor. I'm sure it will be swell."

Thor beamed again and released the back of Tony's chair in order to charge back into the kitchen area. "I shall serve it immediately! Ah, wait!" Tony heard the Lion hustle to the door and then everyone at the table jumped in their seats as he leaned out of the doorway and yelled—no, roared—into the rest of the house. "Loki! Natasha! I have finished my preparations of breakfast! Gather around the table to partake!"

"For shi-!" Spinning around in his seat, Tony gestured pointedly up to a speaker mounted in the ceiling. "We have an intercom, Thor! You don't have to yell."

If Thor was annoyed by the rebuke he didn't show it, instead continuing to smile as he pulled eggs, sausage, and something that looked like they were either supposed to be muffins or scones onto large plates. "It is quicker my way."

"Uh, I disagree." That was the beauty of a wireless intercom, it was instantaneous.

Before Thor could answer back Steve rolled his eyes and nudged Tony's leg under the table with his foot. "Stop. Enjoy breakfast."

"Bossy."

But Tony did stop, mostly because Loki started his own griping as soon as he and Natasha appeared. But not even Loki was able to cow his mate and Thor continued on as blissfully unaware as ever of how ridiculous he was. Breakfast went on like that. Despite grudgingly appreciating Loki's complaints towards Thor, Tony ignored the Raven and focused on his food which wasn't half bad. Little conversations popped up around the table and everyone made an obvious point to not mention anything about bombs or Tony's office. By the end of it Clint and Natasha had successfully ganged up on Steve and convinced him to go out back and spar with them in the gym. Something Tony had said to Bruce had sparked some sort of inspiration in him because he would up out of his seat like a shot as soon as it was socially acceptable. Tony wasn't surprised when Loki seemed to melt back into whatever shadows he hid in and that left him, Peter, and Thor lingering at the table.

When Tony made it very clear that he wasn't going to offer to help clean anything up, Thor heaved a sigh but gathered all the dishes up and walked over to dump them back in the sink. Tony didn't care that he was being immature. Thor got to clean up his own messes.

"Hey, Dad?"

Peter's voice instantly brought Tony's gaze back to his son. "What's up?"

Peter frowned and fidgeted a bit in his seat. He looked—and smelled—uneasy and it put Tony on guard. "How…how are you able to hide your scent?"

The question caught Tony unprepared. He heard Thor's movements pause over in the kitchen before resuming with an obvious attempt to make some noise to offer them some privacy. Tony scoffed back at him before slowly returning his attention to Peter. He turned his son's question over in his head a couple of times, trying to figure out what motive he had for asking it and if that should make a difference as to how he answered. "…It's not an easy thing for me to do. Or, it wasn't an easy thing to learn how to do. It's second nature now. It started as an instinctual response to fear. Cat's…sometimes when we become really afraid our scents shut off as a way to help us hide from whatever is coming after us. I just learned how to keep that going after the fear stopped."

Frowning, Peter tilted his head to the side. "Can other types of Shifters do it?"

"Not that I know of. And I don't know how many Cats it happens to either. It's not something we really talk about."

Peter's frown deepened and he looked over at the only other Cat he knew. "Has it happened to you, Thor?"

No longer able to pretend that he wasn't listening in on their talk, Thor set the pan he was washing down in the sink. The alpha's voice had quieted to something almost thoughtful. "I have never felt the need to do so, but I have heard stories of my brethren losing control of themselves, allowing their courage to fail them upon the field of battle, and being able to disappear into the hills without leaving a scent trail."

Tony sneered back at the Lion. "Thanks for that." He was so glad to hear that Thor associated him with cowards and traitors. But that wasn't the point of all this. The point was that Peter had asked about it. So he spun back around in his chair to meet his son's eyes. "Why all the questions?"

"I just, wanted to know if it was something Wolves could do."

Ah. So that was it. "Did you want to know if you could do it?"

Peter broke their eye contact, his gaze skittering off to somewhere on the other side of the room. "Maybe…"

"Listen, Pete," Tony sighed, trying to come up with the right words, "you shouldn't be worrying about that. Believe me when I say it's not a talent you'd want to be able to develop even if you were a Cat." Tony never wanted Peter to go through what he had. Hiding your scent wasn't a trick that you could just focus hard enough and perform, it was an instinct that was only triggered when a Cat thought they were about to die.

But Tony could tell it wasn't the answer Peter had wanted to hear. His face fell and his shoulders drooped. It made him want to back-track and say something different, something more supportive but he knew that in the long run that would do more damage to Peter than this momentary disappointment ever would. "Okay. Um, is it alright if I go out to see Pop, Clint, and Tasha?"

"Sure, buddy." That Tony could do.

He watched as Peter pushed his chair out, hopped to his feet, and made his way out of the room. Tony lingered at the table and didn't bother to look up when Thor spoke again, his voice still unusually quiet. "The child is too young to wish to hide himself from his peers."

Tony let out the sigh he had been holding in and leaned back into his chair. "Yeah. I wonder where that idea even came from?"

Shaking his head, Thor plunged his hands back into the soapy water filling the sink where he had been soaking the pans he had used that morning. "You are one of his most significant mentors in his life and yet you ask such a question…"

Tony narrowed his eyes and glared at the other Cat. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I do not mean to comment upon your lifestyle, Tony, but even you must concede that the way you hide yourself may impress upon Peter that it is a proper way for a Shifter to conduct himself."

Thor's words hit home like a sledgehammer. But what the hell was he supposed to do? He had changed so much for Peter, for Steve, for all of this but some things were just unnegotiable. Tony pushed his chair out with a loud screech and left the room without a word. He didn't have an answer for that.

O~O~O~O

Going back to work after what had happened felt weird but Tony was determined that it happen just to show his would-be-killer what a shitty job they did. Not only did they fail to kill Tony but they failed to intimidate him or scare him off. Tony had to relocate his and Pepper's offices since his normal one still had a giant hole in it and he spent the entire morning reorganizing the equipment his employees had managed to recover into some semblance of a functional space. Despite what a lot of people thought based on the general haphazard appearance of his workstations, Tony was very particular about how things were set up. Everyone who lived with him knew better and Pepper knew better, which is why she let him spend the time to fix everything up just how he wanted. Even if it meant letting him drag his desk around the new room into six different spots after the first five didn't 'feel right'.

But once he was comfortable Tony actually sat down and got some good work done. There were literally hundreds of messages for him asking for comments about the bombing but Pepper made it her mission to take care of every single one of them. Tony thought it was cute, almost like it was her way of protecting him after what happened. But he kept his mouth shut because if he told her that, even if he meant it as a compliment, he knew that at best it would only embarrass her. Instead he actually thanked her for doing it and sent her a genuine smile which she seemed to appreciate more than anything else.

With her busy responding to emails and making phone calls in a connecting room, Tony was left to his own devices. And he was impressed with himself that he actually behaved himself for a few hours. But inevitably his thoughts began to drift. He couldn't help but thinking of the bombing now that he was back in the office and the more he thought on it the tenser he got.

He needed a vacation. His heat was coming up in a month and a half, maybe it was time to start planning a trip. The whole team couldn't be pulled away but they could spare Steve and Bruce. Steve for obvious reasons and Bruce so that the beta could keep an eye on Peter while he and Steve had their "private time". Maybe the Cayman Islands. Or Hawaii. Hawaii sounded nice. They could rent a cozy, private beach-house for a week or two right near the water and take Peter swimming in between their bouts of sex. God, that sounded good.

Tony took a breath to try and calm himself down. His suit was suddenly feeling too warm and he tugged at his tie with an irritated scowl until it came loose enough for him to pop the top two buttons on his shirt. Think unsexy thoughts. Anything. Anything but how Steve would look stretched out on white sheets with warm, humid, tropical air trapping their scents in the room. Or Steve hovering over him, balls deep in Tony as they both gasped for air. God, they'd both be in heat too. There was a chance that they would knot.

That had been a shock the first time that had happened and Tony had almost sent Steve to the hospital with a very embarrassing injury when during their first heat together as mates Steve's penis had started to swell right before he came. To say that Tony freaked out…would actually be a fairly accurate way to describe the situation but they had rode it out. Tony wasn't ignorant and neither was Steve; they both knew that alphas could knot, but after their very first heat together with no knotting they had each assumed that it wasn't going to happen because there was no beta or omega pheromones to trigger that particular reaction. Turned out it wasn't a pheromone issue, just an issue of the body recognizing another as its mate.

But, Jesus Christ, Tony had thought he was going to split in half. Alphas were built to knot, not to be knotted and it hurt like a son of a bitch for about half a day afterwards, even with his healing abilities. It had taken another full heat cycle—another year—for both of them to adjust to the change and now…Tony wasn't ashamed to admit he kind of liked it and he could tell Steve felt the same. To be exact, after his panic had subsided, Steve had been downright ecstatic. It had been all the proof the Wolf needed that the bond they had was real and just as strong as any other Shifter couple's. And now just the idea of pinning Steve to the mattress and rutting into him and then fill him up with his knot and claim him in every conceivable way nearly had Tony salivating.

"Tony?"

"Tony!"

"Huh?" Tony started at the sound of Pepper's voice and looked up to find the woman leaning on his desk looking exasperated. "What?"

She sighed and pursed her red lips together. "I've been trying to call you for the last five minutes. What's going on?"

"Nothing."

The answer came too quick and Pepper's eyes narrowed before they widened in realization. "Oh no, I know that look. Tony, I checked your calendar last night, you still have six weeks before you take your annual trip."

His 'annual trip' was how Pepper preferred innuendo to the two weeks Tony needed to take off every year to avoid bringing Steve into the office and fucking him over his desk. "Calm down, Pep. I'm not going into heat yet." He didn't need to be in heat to get distracted by imagining sex with his mate. That was a year-round problem.

She didn't seem convinced but seemed momentarily content let the matter drop. "Fine. Just remember that we're not in your normal office and that your employees can see you here." She gestured over to the right where there was a large window in the door leading out to a well-used hallway. "Now, there's a detective from the police department on the line and they want to talk to you."

Oh, well, that was a good reason for an interruption. "Put it through and hold my other calls."

"Okay." Pepper rested a comforting hand on his shoulder before slipping away to go back to her temporary office. A second later his office phone rang and he snatched it up.

"Mr. Stark?"

"Speaking."

"This is Detective Andrews. I'm calling about the bombing incident."

Tony rolled his chair up and kicked his feet up onto his desk. "Good. I've been behaving myself recently so I'd hate to think you'd be calling about anything I did."

The detective didn't respond, just plowed straight through with her script. "We're running down some leads but from what we've found so far it's very clear that the bomb did not in fact from Dr. Franklin Hall. According to the post office's records it came to them through New Jersey. Do you know anyone in New Jersey who may have a grudge against you?"

Tony scoffed. "There's a lot of people in that state, I'm sure there are a few." He wasn't exactly friendly person. Charming, sure, but he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

Talk turned serious after that as Tony underwent a thorough questioning. He would have said interrogation but it wasn't hostile, just no-nonsense. He had to give her credit; it was actually a good approach for the detective to take with him. It kept him on track and he had to wonder if she had been coached before getting on the phone with him. She asked him about every detail about his professional and personal life. Tony played things close to the vest but tried to tell her anything he thought would actually be important. He outright refused to answer about his home life though. That wasn't her business or the police's.

Pepper waited for him to hang up before peeking back into his office. "By the look on your face I'm guessing that the call didn't go well."

Wiping a hand over his face, Tony took a moment to just let himself settle back out before answering. "Not really, no. They don't have anything on whoever sent the bomb except they've definitively ruled out Dr. Hall. And I could have told them that. Hall would've tried to kill me in a much more innovative way than mailing a bomb." And Tony wasn't used to this. He had spent too much time with Steve and their pack: he was used to answers and results.

Pepper sighed and frowned, concern written all over her face. "I'm sorry, Tony."

He instantly waved off her words. "Don't apologize. You were more likely to get killed by it than I was."

"That's true, but whoever sent the bomb didn't know that."

Pepper stepped all the way inside Tony's room and made sure to close the door securely behind her before she spoke again. "Is there anyone you can call about this? To help speed things along?"

Tony had just been wondering the same thing but, no. "No one in the right departments. SHIELD has no reason to be involved with the investigation and the only other person I know who'd be willing to do me any favors is Rhodey, but the Air Force would be just as out of place." It had been a while since he'd spoken with Colonel Rhodes and Tony didn't want their first call in almost a year to be him asking for help anyway. Rhodey was one of the few people who knew that Tony was a Cat and had been a good friend to Tony for years. He had actually been introduced to the military man through one of his dad's projects, back when Howard Stark was still alive. Tony was going to have to invite him over after all of this bombing crap was over with. He had a feeling Rhodey would get along really well with Steve.

"Still, maybe I'll give the Colonel a call and see if he can help."

"No, I don't want to bother him with something like this."

Pepper shook her head and began to pace in front of Tony's desk. "At the very least I'm going to have Happy help me increase your security personnel."

God, Tony could see where this was going…"No, don't do that either."

Pepper paused her pacing just long enough to send him a disapproving look. "I wasn't asking for your opinion. I know you too well to let you take total control over your own safety."

"Such distrust."

"Such experience."

Tony laughed at the frustration on her face. But she was right, as usual. "What would I do without you, Pepper?"

Some of her annoyance melted away at his laugh. "I don't even want to imagine."

"Me neither."

O~O~O~O

As it turned out Tony shouldn't have been too quick to leave Pepper in charge of his security. It was like putting Steve in charge of it. She went overboard with hiring a bunch of burly humans, each trained in a ridiculous number of martial arts and each with spotless employment records, to basically surround him wherever he went. It made him feel claustrophobic and antsy, not least of all because even as an alpha Shifter all of the beefy humans around him still had at least four inches on him.

Fortified within his walls of beefy humans, the days crept by at a snail's pace. It made him question whether the bomber had been successful after all because he had made Tony's world a lot less pleasant. But then Tony gained a minor victory when, after a weekend and almost two full work weeks had gone by without so much of a whisper of trouble, he convinced Pepper that they could send the bodyguards home. That didn't mean that security in the rest of the building had relaxed any though so he felt that it was a decent compromise.

With the changes they made, Tony was one hundred percent sure that no suspicious packages or people were ever going to make it inside Stark Towers again. Or at least not without someone knowing about it. He was fairly proud of the facial and bio recognition scanners that they had added to the security systems already in place. They would be able to trace every face, heat signature, hell, every heartbeat, in the building and identify them, storing it all in a database only Tony and Pepper would ultimately have access to. It was revolutionary and the best part was that it completely canceled out the human—or Shifter—error factor. Except the programmer's, but Tony had programmed it so the coding was perfect.

Tony was practically giddy when he finished up for the day and was able to contemplate walking out of his own building not surrounded by gun-toting men. Pulling on his jacket, he snagged his sun glasses off of his desk then poked his head into Pepper's office. "I'm taking off for the night. Don't work too hard while I'm gone."

She sighed but gave him the sort of smile that said they both knew she'd be there until at least ten o' clock that night. "Okay. Remember, you have a meeting at nine thirty tomorrow morning so try to get here by nine at the latest."

"Nine?" He frowned petulantly and scoffed. "Who scheduled that?"

"I did. It's good for you."

Good for him, his ass. "I'll have you know I'm naturally a nocturnal creature. You're disrupting my instinctual sleep patterns which I'm sure according to some new age pseudoscience throws off my natural life patterns." He had just thrown a bunch of bullshitty words together for that last sentence but it almost sounded like an argumentative point.

Pepper's smile grew. "You wouldn't want to get up in the morning even if you were actually human."

"You may be right." But then he would just think up other excuses.

"I usually am. Now go home. Happy is waiting downstairs to drive you home."

Pepper must have already called him then, but her words raised another point of contention. "That's another thing; when do I get to drive myself again? I didn't buy all my cars just to sit in my garage and not be shown off."

"As far as the rest of the world is concerned you just survived a bomb blast two weeks ago and still have fractured bones and strained muscles. They don't need to see you out on the road driving a convertible. Which reminds me, you need to put your sling back on before you step back into the hall. Humans can't heal their bones in a week."

Damn it, he was hoping she wouldn't notice. "I have no idea how you survived as a species…" Tony slipped his sunglasses on then scowled and strapped on his fake arm sling, Pepper only letting him leave once she had inspected it and given it her okay. It itched and pulled awkwardly at his neck and he sort of wanted to set it on fire. But he didn't because contrary to popular belief he did have some level of impulse control.

A few employees loaded onto the elevator on its way down and every one of them expressed their congratulations for being healthy enough to come back to work and Tony smiled and nodded without really listening. He liked his employees—wouldn't have hired them if he didn't—but he missed the private elevator that went up to his old office.

He was the first one out the door when the elevator slid open and burst outside to the front of Stark Towers only to find…absolutely nothing waiting for him. Sighing, Tony whipped his cell phone out and used his unslung hand to hold it up to his ear. It rang once, twice, then he heard Hogan pick up. "Happy—"

"On my way, boss. I'm just three blocks away. I had to get the car serviced and it took longer than it should have."

"Alright. I'll just stand here, carless, in front of my own building." Knowing that it wasn't actually Happy's fault, Tony ended the call to save him from having to apologize again. But Tony hadn't hired a personal driver to end up waiting out on the curb like a school kid.

Searching for any distraction as he waited, Tony looked up as he heard the sound of a car engine revved to life down the street. It was a dark navy SUV across the street with windows way too tinted to be legal. He wondered for a moment if he should take the time to write their license plate number down but quickly decided that he'd rather the police put more of their energy towards figuring out who bombed him than chasing down a guy with dark windows on his car.

But it turned out he should have written it down.

The SUV pulled sharply off of the curve, almost side-swiping the car in the lane next to it as it pulled out into traffic, and raced down the street toward Stark Towers. Tony narrowed his eyes as the car's back windows rolled down. What the hell was-? Holy shit, that was a rifle barrel. Two men had appeared in the window, each holding a high-powered assault rifle in their hands and they were pointing them right at him.

They opened fire.

Swearing, Tony flipped himself out of the way and tucked himself into a roll as bullets ricocheted off of the wall behind him. Pedestrians screamed and panicked, running away from the bullets and throwing Tony even more off balance. The instinct to shift surged through him and he just barely managed to contain it, his eyes dilating to slits and fur rippling up beneath his suit as he scrambled for cover. But there was no cover. There was nowhere to hide.

Just then a second car came racing down the street in front of Stark Tower, its tires letting out a sharp screech as the driver whipped it around in a full one-eighty, drove it half-way up onto the sidewalk, and slammed to a stop right in front of Tony, separating him from the hail of gunfire. Tony gasped out a breath then stumbled towards the car, trying to keep his head down, as he caught a flash of Happy before the man ducked down in the front seat as the all windows in the car were shot out.

Tony could hear bullets hitting the other side of the car and embedding themselves in the metal siding. He crouched down behind the front tire and pressed himself up against the side of the car, keeping his head ducked and his hands over the back of his neck as debris showered down on him. All he could hear was the thunder of gunshots, his heart pounding so hard in his chest that it hurt.

Eventually the shooters seemed to realize that all of their bullets were being absorbed by the reinforced bodywork of Tony's car and with a loud roar of their engine zoomed away. Shaking, Tony heaved a breath and reached up to fumble at the door handle on the passenger's side. He yanked it open and Happy almost fell out on top of him as Tony tried to climb inside and Happy tried to crawl out. Tony shoved the man back in and yelled, his voice hoarse, "Stop! Stop, Happy, they're leaving!"

"What?" The husky man shot up in his seat. Seeing the empty spot in the lane next to them, the man gripped the wheel. "Get inside! I'm not waiting here for them to come back to finish you off."

Tony wholeheartedly agreed and heaved himself the rest of the way inside, slamming the door behind him so hard he nearly snapped it off its hinges. He tightened his grip on the door handle as Happy rolled them off of the curb and back into the street. "Hogan, you are my hero."

He saw Happy's lips draw into a tight smile before the man glanced over at him. "Are you okay, boss?"

"What?"

"You're holding your arm. Did they hit you?"

"No. I'm fine." Tony wasn't fine. It felt like his upper arm was cramping up and like an elephant sat on his chest. It felt like…no, that couldn't be right. It couldn't be right. He could feel himself on the bridge of a panic attack and forced himself to calm down. He was in the car, he was safe. No big deal, just some bullets. Wincing as his arm throbbed again, Tony rubbed at it then saw Happy watching him closely from the corner of his eyes.

"Okay." Everything about the way he had said that single word made it very clear that Happy didn't buy it. But there were more pressing matters at the moment. "Where to? I don't think I should take this thing all the way out to the house."

He definitely shouldn't. It looked like a lead pincushion and there was broken safety glass everywhere from all the windows getting blown out. "SHIELD then."

SHILED's tower was relatively close, only a bit more than ten blocks away and Happy made short work of getting Tony there. He pulled up in a handicapped spot left open in front of the building and barely turned off the engine before the man was scrambling out the door. "Stay!"

"What?" Tony didn't understand what was happening anymore.

"Just, wait a second." Happy got out, ran around the front, and tugged Tony's door open for him. Tony tried to scoff but his breath hitched up half way through the noise and ended up sounding more like a gasp. He let Happy help pull him out like some invalid and then Hogan helped him, half limping, towards the front door of SHIELD's offices, his man taking care to cover as much of Tony's body from view as he could.

Tony flung the doors open with shaking hands and Happy shoved him inside and over to a couch pushed him against the wall near the front desk. The woman stationed there had already leapt to her feet with a phone pressed against her ear and before Tony could even call for help the elevator whisked open and who else but Agent Coulson himself rushed out with three other agents on his heels. Coulson was about to run right past Tony but then he skidded to a stop so suddenly one of the female agents following him ran into his back as he did a double-take. The shock there was quickly absorbed back into his standard collected expression. "Stark! I just heard about what happened. The police are looking everywhere for you. Are you injured?"

Tony shook his head, his hand subconsciously moving back to try and massage the pain from his arm. "I just, need to sit for a while."

Coulson narrowed his eyes and studied Tony for a long moment. "I'm going to call for a doctor."

"No! No, it's not, just don't, I just need to catch my breath." Tony didn't want any doctors poking and prodding at him whether they knew he was a Shifter or otherwise. Especially because they might actually find something wrong with him.

"Fine. Agent Ward, send word out to the Police Chief and let him know that Stark is temporarily under our protection. If they ask why we involved ourselves, just tell them that he came to us because of Steve's affiliation." A dark haired man behind Coulson nodded and moved to the far side of the lobby to make the call. Meanwhile Coulson had crouched down beside Tony like he was trying to soothe him, the bastard. "You should stay here until the police arrive. I'm sure they'll want to talk to you."

Tony rested his head in his hand, knowing that the agent was right. "How do you know about all this already anyway?"

Coulson gave a small shrug. "SHIELD keeps tabs on the police scanners in order to be kept in the loop about any crimes in progress regarding Shifters. From the sound of it, someone in your building heard the shooting and called it in."

"And the dicks didn't come out to help me?"

"In their defense, if it was as bad as it sounded over the radio they probably would have been shot and killed before they were even able to step all the way out of the front door. And they probably thought that you were already dead." He studied Tony for a minute longer before releasing a sigh and pulling his phone from his jacket. "I'm going to call Steve."

Groaning, Tony leaned back in his seat then winced as the action caused muscles in his chest to pull tight. "No, come on. Don't do that." Steve was in Pennsylvania out on a mission anyway. But of course he wouldn't need to tell Coulson that. He was the one who sent Steve out there after all.

"He's your mate, he should know. And he should hear about it from you, not from an app Peter has on his phone."

It figured…"He told you about what happened last time?"

"He may have mentioned it."

O~O~O~O

Tony quirked a brow and turned around in his seat as he heard a sudden ruckus burst out from the lobby of the police station. The cops had come to collect him from SHIELD's protection about three and a half hours ago and had him sitting in an interrogation room ever since. But Steve had made good time. The door out to the hall had been left ajar and he could hear his mate's voice echo out from the entrance to the station. The Wolf's voice was tense and aggressive and people all the way back in the holding cells could probably hear him. "Tony Stark, where is he?"

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to calm down."

That had been a cop. Tony offered the officer in front of him a dry smile as he rose to his feet. "Hey, can I call a time out, just for a second? Thanks."

"Wait, Mr. Stark…"

But Tony was already half-way out the door. "Be right back, dear."

Steve's shouts grew louder as Tony made his way back to the front room. "Where's Tony?"

"Mr. Stark is fine but if you don't calm down you will be considered a threat and I will have no choice but to restrain you."

Tony picked up his pace and rounded the corner to find Steve staring down some poor beat cop with fire in his eyes and five other uniformed officers surrounding him, all of them with their tasers at the ready. Still dressed in his mission-ready tactical gear the Wolf looked ready to do some damage and his whole body seemed drawn tight and ready to spring. Tony had to defuse this quick before Steve got himself fried by being overprotective. "Steve!" Steve's gaze snapped to him at the sound of his voice and for a second Tony could have sworn he saw a flash of Wolf in his mate's eyes. This wasn't good; he was too worked up. "Hey, back up, he's fine. " Waving the officers down, Tony walked right in the middle of it all and grabbed Steve's arms. "Steve, take a deep breath, big dog. You're causing a scene. Which is a bit ironic considering how things usually go between the two of us."

Steve did just that and sucked in a deep breath before slowly letting it back out. The cops slowly lowered their tasers and fell back as Steve fell into a more relaxed stance. He reached up to touch Tony, his hands ghosting up his sides to run across his shoulders then cup his face, silently searching for injuries. "I got here as fast as I could. Phil called me, he told me that someone had tried to shoot you."

"He wasn't lying."

Tony looked over his shoulder as the Lieutenant who he had spent the last three hours speaking to peeked his head out of the interrogation room. "Mr. Stark, we'd like to continue the interview."

Steve's hand slid down Tony's arm to clutch at his hand and knew that he wasn't going back there alone. "Sure. Steve's coming in with me though."

"Mr. Stark—"

Seeing a refusal ready to fall off of the man's lips, Tony cut him off before he could even finish his sentence. "I insist." And he made sure his tone had left no room for argument. It was the same voice he used when he was closing multi-million dollar deals and—unbeknownst to humans—the same voice an alpha would use on other Shifters when it would be a very, very bad idea to cross them. He was sure they already knew who Steve was and if they hadn't recognized him from the news stories Tony had been talking about him for hours so the man should at least recognize his name. Tony wasn't here as a suspect, he was the victim, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let the police deny him his partner's presence.

O~O

Steve didn't care about who was watching and grabbed Tony's hand tighter to intertwine their fingers. He had literally dropped everything the moment he had gotten Phil's phone call about the shooting and left Clint and Thor in the middle of their mission in Pennsylvania with the single-minded purpose of getting back to town as soon as possible. But Tony seemed alright. Not quite his usual energetic self but at least Steve couldn't see any wounds on his mate. Not that he wasn't going to do a more thorough check later.

He let Tony guide him back to the small room they had been holding him in, judging by the scents in the room and only sat down once Tony and the police officer interviewing him did. The officer took a moment to recollect himself. "So we've gone over what happened. Can you tell me anything about the person or persons who were firing the weapons?"

Steve watched Tony carefully as he leaned back in his seat, detailing every sign of stress in his face and the barely perceptible underlying tension in his voice. "There were at least two of them, maybe three. I was a little distracted by all the bullets so I didn't quite catch what they looked like but I think they were wearing hats or hoods and had sunglasses over their eyes."

Tony's nonchalant narration of the event made anger flare up quick and hot in his chest again and Steve sucked in another deep breath. The officer eyed him before turning his eyes back to Tony. "That doesn't give us much to go on."

Tony scoffed. "There's nothing I can do about that. All I can say for sure is that they were human."

"How can you be sure?"

Steve could answer that one. Leaning forward, he was relieved to hear his voice had returned to its normal tenor. "Because Shifters don't operate like that." And it was true. Even though Shifters, particularly alphas, were known to take more dangerous professions such as careers in the military, the sort of attack that Tony just described went against an instinctual mode of operations that Shifters had. "I can call SHIELD and see if—"

The man across the table cut him off with a wave of his hand and Steve had to bite back a snarl. "If they were human then there's no reason to get SHIELD involved in any of this. The last thing we need is them coming in and wrapping red tape around our investigation." Steve growled but looked away. "Now, given that this happened only two weeks after that bomb in your office I think it's safe to say that there's a likely a connection between the two."

"No shit, Sherlock." There was a low hiss buried in Tony's tone.

"It follows that they'll try to come after you again. Given the nature of the crimes and the danger it poses not only to you but the general public, the Chief has formed a task force to try and catch whoever is responsible. We're chasing down all the leads we can but there is a chance that they will try to kill you again before we can identify them. That means you need to prepare yourself for another assassination attempt. We can have two officers on rotation guarding you at all times but that might not be enough. I know you have a good deal of resources at your disposal, Mr. Stark, so my advice to you is that you make use of some of them and lay low for the next few weeks."

Steve actually agreed with the officer on that point but Tony just rolled his eyes. "I have a company to run and I'm not about to be run off by some lunatic with a couple guns. You can keep your officers and have them help out somewhere else; I'll hire my own security team."

Steve straightened in his uncomfortable plastic chair. "I can help."

Again, the officer waved him off. "I thought you might say that. Given your experience I wouldn't expect anything else from you, Mr. Rogers, but I can't stress enough that you cannot in any way harm any human who may be involved in this. No matter your intentions it is strictly against the law for a Shifter to attack a human."

Steve wanted to leap to his feet and stalk around the small room. "Even if that human is trying to kill my mate?"

"Even if that human is trying to kill your mate."

"But—"

For the first time since Steve had been in the room the officer's tough cop mask cracked just long enough for Steve to see genuine regret on the man's face. "I know how it sounds and I'm not trying to be an ass. I'm telling you this because if you did there would be nothing any of us could do to cover it up if something like that went public and you could easily be given the death penalty."

Steve went stock still. He wanted to call the man on it, to say that he was exaggerating but he had seen such things happen with his own eyes. In his lifetime at least five Shifters had been "put down" in the state for harming humans. Three of them had actually gone wild, or lost sense of their human sides, but the other two Steve knew of had claimed self-defense or due cause. Their claims hadn't saved them during their trials.

He kept Tony's hand in his for the next hour as Tony and the police Lieutenant finished up. Then Tony was finally released and Steve was able to take him home. Natasha was home and was waiting up with Peter in the front room. It was clear that she already knew what Tony had been through that day and it wasn't a surprise to Steve. SHIELD already knew about it and Natasha had access to their intelligence information. Seeing Tony walk through the door calmed them both and Steve tried to keep the afternoon as normal as possible as they waited for the rest of the pack to return home.

Steve knew that Tony was due for some time to himself so he didn't protest when the Panther separated from them to go off on his own. Steve found he was busy enough anyway as he tried to explain everything to Peter and Natasha and then Bruce when his Beta arrived home completely ignorant of what had happened to Tony. When he had heard he had wanted to find the Cat to give him a thorough check-up but Steve had dissuaded him to give Tony a chance to unwind.

Eventually everyone reluctantly began to fall back into their regular evening routines. Steve stayed close to Peter as a sort of proxy to being able to stick close to Tony. Peter seemed to appreciate it and kept just as close to Steve.

Their manufactured peace was interrupted by the house phone ringing. Steve snatched it up and was unsurprised to find a detective on the other end of the line calling to ask some follow up questions in reference to Tony's interview. "We just need to ask a few more questions but there's no point in asking you to come all the way back to the station."

"Of course. Please hold for a moment." Pulling the phone away from his ear, Steve nodded towards Peter who had been listening in. "Peter, can you go look for your Dad please?" It was getting late anyway. After this call maybe they could get dinner started.

"Sure." He hopped up and hurried off, lifting his nose to sniff the air as he rushed out of the room to catch and follow his dad's scent trail.

Steve engaged the detective in a small interrogation of his own until Peter reappeared and Steve paused mid-sentence as he realized that Tony hadn't returned with their son. Peter was frowning, his teeth worrying his bottom lip as he walked back into the room. "Pop?" Steve nodded to show that he was listening and Peter swallowed. "Pop, something's wrong with Dad."

He barely took the time to make an excuse before hanging up on the detective and following Peter back down to the workshop. Steve wasn't surprised that Tony had chosen to retreat down there and his mind raced as he tried to figure out what Peter had meant. The young Wolf didn't seem panicked but he did seem bothered by it and more intent on showing Steve rather than explaining himself.

Catching sight of his mate half-slumped over a desk Steve tilted his head as he made his way over. "What's going o-?" Then he smelled it. The strong, pungent odor of alcohol. He quickened his pace and as soon as he rounded the corner one look at the Cat's face confirmed it. "Tony! For God's sake, what are you doing?" Tony was drunk. Very drunk by the look of it, especially by Shifter standards. If Steve had known this was what Tony had disappeared to do he wouldn't have let him run off.

Tony rolled his head over to look at Steve and pushed the bottle he was holding over to the small pile that had gathered on the corner of the table. His eyes were glassy and his cheeks were flushed from the booze coursing through his system. Up close the smell of it was so strong that it almost overpowered Tony's natural scent and that only caused Steve's temper to rise further. "I'm re-relaxing, what the hell does it look like?"

Clenching his jaw to keep himself from yelling, Steve waited until he was sure he wouldn't say anything insulting and even when he felt he could speak again he chose his words very carefully. "Peter, go get Bruce then please go up to your room." Peter's mouth fell open and he flinched back and Steve shook his head. "You're not in trouble, your Dad's just not well right now." He didn't want Peter to have to see Tony like this.

Tony snorted loudly and slammed his hands down on his desk. "For fuck's sake, stop talking about me like I'm not in the room!"

"Be quiet, Tony."

"Fuck you!"

Sighing, Steve waved at Peter. He seemed to have been frozen but as Steve's wave he nodded once then took off back up the stairs. Once Peter had left, Steve risked approaching the Cat. He hadn't wanted to physically get to close while their son had been watching because he knew there was a chance Tony would lash out and it would end in a fight. One Steve would win very easily, but a fight nonetheless. Tony was his mate but he was still an alpha and a drunk alpha could be a very dangerous thing, even to other Shifters. And Tony knew that. He had known that when he had grabbed his first bottle. He had no idea why Tony would willingly drink himself to this point.

Steve was indescribably angry at Tony for doing it but he was also extremely worried and his worry gentled his tone and his touch as he wrapped his arm around his mate's waist and attempted to haul him to his feet. "Come on. Let's go sober you up."

Tony grumbled but thankfully didn't try to attack him. He even seemed like he tried to help but he was so unsteady on his feet that by the time they reached the top of the stairs Steve was practically carrying him. He led Tony all the way into the kitchen then sat him down at the counter. Once he was sure that Tony wasn't going to topple off his stool he stepped away, started the coffee pot, then moved over to the cabinet to get Tony a glass for water. "How much have you had to drink?"

Tony had slumped over the counter, one hand buried in his mussed hair and his other draped across the marble surface, his hand dangling off the edge. "Well, that bottle was full when I started. And so was the other one. The big one was half empty though."

Steve bit back a curse. All of the bottles he had caught sight of on Tony's desk downstairs had been hard alcohol. It was no wonder he was as plastered as he was; in fact, it was a shock that he could still form full sentences. Steve had never seen Tony like this before and it scared him a little bit.

Bruce chose that moment to burst in through the door and his eyes widened in shock as he saw Tony's collapsed form. It looked like Peter had told him what happened but he hadn't really believed it until that moment. Then a cloud of concerned anger flashed in his eyes and he marched over to where they were sitting. "Tony, what were you thinking?"

Tony snorted again and Steve shook his head at the noise. He understood where Bruce was coming from but there wasn't a point to it for now. "You should save your voice until some of the booze is out of his system. He could barely walk up here." Bruce growled—growled—but kept whatever else he wanted to say inside as Steve passed Tony a full glass of cold water. "Tony, drink that water."

"You drink it." Tony slapped the glass away and sent it flying off of the counter to shatter on the floor ten feet away.

Steve pulled in a long breath and forced himself to turn away to pull another cup—plastic this time—out of the cabinet. He counted to ten in his head as he calmly filled it with some more water then passed it to Tony. "Tony, drink it."

Tony glared up at him with his bloodshot eyes but this time grabbed the cup and belligerently chugged the water before shoving the cup away again. Steve watched him for a long moment before turning to Bruce and motioning for his Beta to follow him out of the room. Slipping around the corner just far enough to get them out of Tony's line of sight Steve lowered his voice to a whisper. Tony would be able to hear if he really listened but Steve had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to focus long enough to understand their conversation. "Bruce…Can you talk to him? If he was driven to this…" Steve had a hard time trying to think of a way to finish his sentence but couldn't bring himself to voice his real thoughts. So he swallowed and moved on. "Something's obviously eating at him but if he hasn't mentioned it to me already…He might open up to you."

Bruce sighed but nodded as the rest of his anger seemed to flood out of him. Now he just looked tired. "I'll do what I can."

"Thanks. I'll go check on Peter."

O~O

Bruce paused then walked back into the kitchen and sat next to Tony, running his fingers through his graying hair. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, both just staring across the counter at the oven. Trying to talk with Tony in the state he was in might have seemed like a fruitless effort but Bruce thought that now was the perfect time. He had known the Panther long enough to know that he was still cognizant of what he was saying on some level but hopefully drunk enough to not try and cover anything up. So hopefully that would give Bruce an advantage.

Of course he was also going to have to be careful. Steve had been manhandling Tony like it was no big deal but Bruce couldn't help but feel on edge around the Cat. He trusted Tony with his life but he didn't know how strongly the alcohol would affect him. If Bruce said the wrong thing and Tony lashed out there was a chance that Bruce could get hurt. Or worse, that it would cause him to Shift. But he was still willing to give this a shot. Tony seemed in control of himself enough still that he wouldn't risk not just Bruce's safety but the safety of the whole pack. Nevertheless Bruce kept his tone relaxed as he spoke to try and keep from making the situation any worse. "I don't get it, Tony. Why start drinking now?"

Tony let out a slurred noise that Bruce realized a second later was supposed to be a laugh. "I don't know if you noticed, but I had a rough couple of weeks here."

"I noticed." And he was very happy that Tony seemed to be willing to talk. "But what made you turn to alcohol?"

The alpha gave a lazy shrug, as if the muscles in his arms and shoulders weren't quite working the way he wanted them to. "It always worked before. I mean, you know, sort of worked."

Bruce tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

He saw Tony frown before he picked his head up far enough to make eye contact with Bruce. "Don't think you know everything about me just because you're my doctor. I got pretty damn good at self-medicating before Steve."

Was he implying what Bruce thought he was implying. Bruce couldn't keep his brow from furrowing but he fought to keep anything resembling judgment out of his voice. "Tony, did you have an alcohol problem?"

Tony shrugged again as he turned his head into the crook of his arm. "Pepper and Rhodey said so. I say I was fine. Or, I got fine, once Pepper threatened to quit."

"How long had it been going on?" Bruce thought back to when he had been close to Tony when he was just a teen. "I always knew you drank but you seemed to have it under control when I knew you." Even back then Tony had been quite happy to brag about the high school parties he had been to but Bruce had never seen him overindulge, even when he had been going through recovery. Since then he had read some of the articles the gossip columns had put out about the young entrepreneur and they had all described Tony Stark as going through some rough patches but nothing beyond the usual rebellious celebrity activity.

"'Bout…shit," Tony shook his head, "ten years ago now. I just…A couple years after Dad died and I had the company everything just seemed so, so boring, you know. Pointless. So, I started drinking and it made things better, for a while. Then I had this birthday party and almost ended up killing Rhodey and Pepper said she was going to quit so I quit drinking hard instead. And it's been fine since. I'm fine."

"Well, you have been good about it." And Bruce meant it. If Tony had fallen as far into it as it sounded, he had made an impressive comeback. Bruce had even seen him drink before and for a past addict to dabble in their trigger substance and still keep on a strong resistance against it…That had to take an immense amount of willpower. "I didn't even realize—until today that is. What pushed you back over the edge?"

"I'm not 'over the edge'. Just slipped…"

"What made you slip?"

"...I…Just," Tony's voice trailed off for a long moment before Bruce saw a small, twisted smile flicker onto his lips. "…coming to terms with my own mortality I guess."

"Well, no one's going to live forever, Tony. Which makes what we do with our lives mean so much. And no one here is going to let you waste yours in the bottom of a bottle. Just like no one here is going to let you die so easily. You're remarkably resilient, Tony. Don't let these attempts on your life change you."

"…I don't want to die, Bruce."

"Like I said, no one here wants that either. We'll figure this out and the police will find whoever is coming after you."

Bruce reached out and rested a hand on Tony's shoulder and the Cat allowed it, though his next words were barely loud enough for Bruce to hear. "…What if it's not them?"

"Hmm?"

"What if it's not them that kills me?"

A small sense of foreboding snaked up Bruce's spine at Tony's tone but shook it off. "Then we'll figure that out too. Now I'm going to get you more water and you're going to drink it."

"I want the coffee."

So he had noticed Steve start up the coffee pot after all. But Bruce wasn't going to bend on this. "Water will keep you hydrated better and will keep you from puking up your stomach in a few hours."

Tony lifted his head again and this time his smile was more sincere. "Is that official medical advice?"

"Absolutely."

O~O

Steve looked up as Bruce met him in the hall. He had heard the beta leading Tony back up to his room and was anxious to find out how it had gone. He had clearly managed to talk at least a bit of sense into the Cat. "Did you figure it out?"

Bruce crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall. "He's just scared, Steve. But that's not really a surprise given what's happening."

"Alright." Steve sighed and took in another deep breath as if to steel himself then gave a quick nod of affirmation. "Alright, it's time to do something about this."

"Let Tony sleep off the alcohol first. Luckily I don't think that this will be a repeat performance. At least not any time soon."

"Good." Steve reached out and rested his hands on Bruce's arms. "Thanks for talking to him."

Bruce smiled at the acknowledgment but the expression faded from his face as fast as it had appeared. "So far it's been all I could do to help him through any of this."

"And it's still more than I've been able to do."

Steve hadn't been able to keep the bitterness out of his voice and Bruce made a small sound in the back of his throat before reaching up and patting Steve's arm. "Hang in there, Steve. This won't last forever."

O~O~O~O

Steve perked up as he heard a rustling from the other side of the bed and rolled over to find Tony blinking his eyes open, his face screwed up into a pained grimace. "Hey…How are you feeling?" It had been almost eight hours since Tony had passed out. Steve had stayed up into the early hours of the morning to make sure he would be alright. Honestly he hadn't been able to sleep anyway with Tony's fevered movements and mutterings beside him. But he knew he wasn't the only one who hadn't been able to sleep. He could hear and smell the rest of the pack wandering restlessly around the rest of the house, save for Peter who had finally passed out in his bed.

Groaning, Tony rolled back over and pressed his hand on his sweat-soaked pillow. "…Like I slammed my head into a brick wall."

"I think that's probably the bottle of scotch you drank."

"Ugh…" Tony's nostrils flared against his pillow and he jerked his head back. "I drank all of it?"

"Down to the last drop."

Tony let out another moan before rolling over so that his nose was buried against Steve's hip. "Damn it. I was saving that."

Steve gave in and combed his fingers through Tony's hair. He wanted to let Tony stay like that for as long as he wanted but he couldn't do that. They had waited on him long enough and he wasn't going to let things continue as they were for one more minute. So he pulled his hand away despite Tony's verbal protests. "Can you stand up?"

Tony flailed around a bit before realizing that Steve was serious. Then he pushed himself up onto his elbows and crawled over to the edge of the bed. "Yeah. Wait—" Tony covered his mouth with his fist as a wave of nausea seemed to wash over him. But he managed to keep it down and swung his legs off of the mattress. "Yeah. I'm good. Why?"

"We want to talk downstairs."

"Who's 'we'? And talk about what?"

"You'll see."

Tony scowled but he stumbled after Steve as he made his way toward the door. "You know I don't like surprises."

Nodding, Steve pushed open the door then offered Tony his arm for support. "I know. This shouldn't be a surprise."

Tony ignored his arm and shuffled right on by him. "It's about me then, huh? Is it already time for an intervention?"

"Sort of." Just not the sort Tony was thinking of.

"Fine, but I can do without being sent to rehab, no matter how nice the facilities are."

"We're not sending you away."

"That's what they always say before they send you away."

The others were already waiting for them in the living room, all of them falling quiet as Steve and Tony made their way inside. Clint and Thor had arrived back home about an hour ago so everyone was present, even Loki though he stayed quiet in his perch in the corner of the room.

Steve broke the silence after Tony had sat down in the chair they had all left open for him. He seemed so tired still that Steve almost broke and offered to take Tony back upstairs. But, no, this had to happen. This talk was a long time coming and everyone in the pack had a right to voice their opinion on this. This wasn't all about Tony—it was never all about Tony. It affected them all, and it was time that Tony recognized that. "Tony, this is about the attempt that was made on your life yesterday. I don't care what the officer said, I'm not letting you deal with this alone. None of us are."

Tony winced and rubbed at his temple. He probably had a heck of a migraine but Steve wasn't going to let that sway him. "Yeah, I figured."

A rare bout of seriousness came over Clint's face and the Hawk leaned forward. "Do you need us to step in? Natasha or I can have this whole thing settled out the next time anyone tries to make a move."

Tony shook his head at the reminder that two members of his pack were professional assassins. "Steve's enough. I don't need anyone to end up with an arrow or a bullet in their eye."

Frowning, Thor crossed his broad arms over his chest as he rested back against one of the armchairs. "It is disturbing that one of our own should be targeted in this manner. There is truly nothing we can do to assist you?"

Tony's response was immediate and one no one wanted to hear. "Nope. Especially you. We don't need any international incidents."

Natasha shook her head in disgust. "It's ridiculous. We could have put a stop to this hours after the bombing attempt."

Throwing his hands up in the air, Tony turned his bleary gaze on her. "Do you think I don't know that? I am aware of what all you do for a living. But the way this has already been publicized it would be a nightmare if you all came in with guns blazing."

Thor scoffed as Clint fell back in his seat with a huff. "So we instead are expected to remain silent and wait for some serious misfortune to befall you? I do not understand; if we have the ability to come to your aid we should be allowed to do so."

"Yeah, well, life's not fair. Don't know what else to tell you. Besides, you guys should be busy solving bigger problems; I'm pretty sure that half of you are actually supposed to be out on missions right now."

Steve put his hands on his waist. There was no point in lying. "Some assignments might have come in they can wait."

"Seriously?" Tony's tone was pure incredulity as he looked first as Steve then at the rest of the pack. "Look, all of you, I'll be fine, okay? The drinking thing was a fluke. I'll rehire my security team. The police are forming a damn taskforce. There is no one in the eastern seaboard more equipped to handle this than me. You guys need to get back to doing your jobs. The only reason I'm even putting up with Steve's possessive bullshit is because I know he's not going to let up until he gets his way. I don't need the rest of you trying to do it to."

Bruce finally spoke up, the beta wringing his hands. "We're just concerned about you, Tony. Notwithstanding the drinking thing. Despite how you're acting now it's not normal for someone to be actively trying to kill you."

Steve nodded. "Especially if they don't even know you're a Shifter and involved in SHIELD missions."

Rolling his eyes, Tony seemed to give up and pushed himself up onto his feet. "Are you done tag-teaming me? If so I'm going to go up and get some more sleep."

Thor rose to his feet as well and even Natasha seemed ready to stop Tony from leaving but Steve held a hand out as a silent motion for them to stand down. They weren't going to get any further with Tony this morning. So he just nodded to his mate as the Cat brushed by him to leave the room. "Fine. I'll be up in a few minutes."

The tension didn't leave when Tony did and the rest of them were left to simmer in it as they all listened as Tony tromped back up the stairs and to his and Steve's room. When he final heard the door close, Clint pushed himself off of the couch and moved close to Steve. "Tell me you have a plan to secret us in to help Tony out?"

Steve released a long breath and looked around the room. Clint, Bruce, Natasha, and Thor were each reflecting his own thoughts on their faces. Frustration, fear, the desire to act but not knowing what they could do. Even Loki appeared mildly unsettled by the whole thing and once upon a time he had tried to kill them himself, including trying to bomb them. Though that had been more of Hydra's tactic than the Raven's. And Steve wanted to have better news for them. "I wish I could say I did. I hate to say it I think that this needs to be as small of an operation as possible. And he's right; we all know that we've been getting a new set of assignments that should be addressed." The mission he, Clint, and Thor had been out on the day before had just been one in a series that they had just been assigned. They couldn't ignore their work. But that didn't mean that they had to ignore Tony either. "In the meantime though, we can set up a rotation. If anyone isn't out on a mission or dealing with preparations they can be watching Tony from a distance. Between all of us we should be able to set up a four hour rotation to cover the time he's away from the house."

Everyone seemed slightly soothed by the idea but Steve knew they all felt it wasn't enough. Thor growled. "We and all our strength, and yet this is all we may do. It does not sit well with me."

"I don't like it either but for now this is the way we have to play it." Tony wasn't going to do this alone anymore. The next time someone tried to take Tony's life the would-be murder would have to answer to the pack.